The Shadow of Israphel
by N.K.Barton
Summary: Based on the Minecraft series by The Yogscast, with a few twists and additions of my own. Enjoy and please review
1. Prologue and chapter 1

**Author's note: ****So This is a fan fiction based off of the Yogscast's minecraft series "The Shadow of Israphel." Now I know this has been done allot but I am putting a few more twists and extras, though I will be following the series, with some twists just to make it longer and slightly more dramatic, and fan service, and when I get to where they left off, I will go on my own, making up the story the best I can. I do hope you enjoy and please send me Reviews so that I can improve my story as it goes along.**

**WARNING: VIOLENCE AND OTHER ADULT CONTENT SIMPLY BECAUSE THAT IS WHAT I LIKE TO WRITE. IF YOU DON'T LIKE THAT STUFF, DON'T READ.**

**((Sorry it is short, wanted to know what you guys are thinking))**

_**Prologue**_

There was a time, many centuries ago, when the world of Minecraftia was in great peril. A shadow had befallen the land, people disappeared, lands were laid to waste by a dark force. In this time, away in the wilderness met two, unlikely beings; Xephos, a man from another world, and Honeydew, a Dwarf of Khaz Modan. This is their story, a story about friendship and sacrifice, and a story about how Minecraftia was saved from the evil Shadow of Israphel.

_**Chapter 1: The Dwarf and the Spaceman**_

It was dawn, the sun slowly rising over the snowy peaks when Honeydew cautiously stepped out of his shelter, a small hole he had dug in the side of a hill. He looked around, noticing a zombie burning in the sunlight and decided it was safe to emerge. He looked at his spade, a wooden too he had made in a hurry, and was now useless. He tossed it to the side and walked on, searching for a place to make a home. He didn't have to go far before reaching a small beach, the ocean water coated with ice. He had never seen the ocean before, and let the first smile for many days appear on his bearded lips. It was quite beautiful. At the sudden sound of splashing water the dwarf whipped around, his fists up ready to fight. Out of all the things he had expected to see, a cow, a sheep, or maybe a lingering skeleton, he had never expected to see a man, slowly pulling himself out of the cold water. Honeydew watched, confused for a moment as the man pulled himself up onto the bank, and collapsed.

Honeydew approached the man cautiously, never having seen a man dressed in such a strange way before. He slowly knelt down beside the man and looked into his pale face and smiled, observing the disheveled hair and the many cuts and bruises, deciding that this was a man he could trust he picked him up and carried him to an area filled with trees, next to a large, dark outcropping, not knowing that his actions were being watched by deep, red eyes.


	2. Chapter 2

_**Chapter 2: Xephos and the hut**_

It was cold and dark when Xephos finally opened his eyes. He was barely able to see wood planks above him, and could hear a faint rustling of grass. He slowly sat up and got a sudden chill when the fur pelt slid off his torso.

"Oi, you're awake." A friendly voice said in the darkness. Xephos turned and could make out the dim shape of a short, rather hairy person.

"Who are you?" Xephos asked, rubbing the back of his head.

"Name's Honeydew, a Dwarf of Khaz Modan!" Exclaimed the dwarf proudly. Xephos smiled slightly and looked around.

"I'm Xephos…what is this?" He said, motioning to the very small wooden hut they were in.

"Just a makeshift house to get us through the night." Honeydew explained, looking at the random red flower roughly planted in the dirt floor. "What happened to you, lad? You seemed to be in quite a mess."

"My shuttle crashed into the water." Xephos explained walking toward the door and looking outside. It was dark, and there were some strange sounds, almost like a xylophone being badly played. He reached for the door knob but felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned to face Honeydew, noticing the man was roughly the same height as himself, despite being a dwarf.

"That's not a good idea, mate." The dwarf said, his kind eyes reflecting the moonlight coming in through the door windows. "You go out there and those monsters will kill ya instantly."

Xephos stared for a moment before taking his hand away from the door. He smiled at Honeydew and nodded.

"What are those sounds?" He asked as the xylophone came closer.

"Those are skeletons." Honeydew said, "I suggest you get away from the door, they can shoot their arrows through the window."

Xephos nodded again and sat down in a corner of the hut, Honeydew sitting opposite to him. The space was extremely cramped, and the sounds outside grew louder as the night waned on. After a long period of silence Xephos spoke.

"Thank you, for helping me." He said, tying blades of grass into knots. Honeydew smiled and shrugged.

"Yer the first person I've seen in days, I wasn't about to let you freeze to death. But you are lucky I found you, if you had remained unconscious outside you would already be zombie food. "

Xephos chuckled slightly and leaned back against the wall.

"How long are the nights here?" He asked, nearly falling asleep.

"Not much longer. The sun should be up soon." Honeydew said, handing Xephos a sword made of wood.

"It's not much, but it will keep you alive." The dwarf sighed and looked out the door window. "Looks like the sun's rising, let's wait a few more minutes then we can go."

"Go were?" Xephos asked, holding the sword in his hand. The Dwarf shrugged and put his horned helmet on his curly red hair.

"No idea. We got to find a place to make a permanent home." He said with a small smile and stepped outside. "Okay it's clear."

Xephos stepped outside the small hut and looked around at the ice covered water and the snow covered trees. The world was oddly beautiful, filled with trees and mountains that brushed the sky. He looked up at the sky, wondering if his ship was still there, looking for him. After a moment he followed Honeydew through the trees, leaving the small hut with the random flower inside.


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's note: Hey guys, thanks for the reviews please keep them coming, they really do help and encourage me to keep writing. I got a question as to why Honeydew did not ask more about the shuttle and what not, well my answer is, I'll be putting little hints into the story as it goes, so that it shows they have already talked about it, rambling the whole thing.**

**PLEASE MORE REVIEWS!**

_**Chapter 3: The cave, the tree, and the pyramid. **_

After a few hours of walking, the two companions came upon a strange, arched cave. Finding a large supply of coal nearby they decided to make this their home. After Honeydew made them a pair of pick-axes out of wood they began to carve out some of the stone and coal, steadily boarding up the open walls. Within a matter of hours, and before the sun was fully behind the mountains, they had made a nice home that Honeydew called "The Yogcave".

"Yog, in my language, means strong, so this is the Strong cave." Honeydew explained with a smile as he set up the stone furnace. "You don't have any food do you?"

"No, sorry." Xephos replied, setting the door into the wall. It looked nice, and they worked fast. He looked up and frowned. "Um…I think we need a roof."

Honeydew looked up at the high walls and open sky. He gave a nervous chuckle.

"That's not good….we'll get creepers falling on our heads."

"Creepers?" Xephos asked, setting glass into holes for windows. "Those green, cacti like things that blow up?"

"Yea, those. They're bad." Honeydew said and started to put up a make-shift wooden ceiling. "We can make this better in the morning. I think we should get some rest."

Xephos nodded and yawned, looking out the window as a sheep walked by. They had gathered some more cow skin and some wool, enough to make a large blanket and one, somewhat small bed. Xephos walked over to the small bed and laid down, staying to the edge as he turned onto his side and sighed softly. There had been no contact with his ship and he now believed himself to be trapped for good. He felt the other side of the bed sink as Honeydew joined him in the bed. They laid facing opposite each other, trying to keep a certain amount of space between them, but seeing as they were both nearly falling out of the bed, they slowly started to inch toward the middle, until the back of their shoulders touched. They both turned and looked at each other. They chuckled and rested their heads on the pillows, slowly falling asleep.

Honeydew woke up in the morning to the sound of a dying zombie outside their door. He yawned and stretched, feeling nice and warm as he opened his eyes, looking up at the crappy wooden ceiling. He shifted and heard a slight moan, so he looked down and saw that Xephos was still asleep, his head resting on the Dwarf's barrel chest. At first Honeydew was shocked to see his friend in such away but ended up smiling. It had been very cold last night, and he suspected that they had simply shifted to that position to keep warm. He was almost amazed that he was actually considering this instead of making stupid jokes about it. He shook his head and carefully slipped off the bed, resting Xephos' head on the pillows and wrapping the blanket around his small, human shoulders. He looked around and sighed. They needed to go mining and get some better equipment. He went over to their crafting bench and made a few stone picks before heading outside to get more wood. They also needed to find food, try and locate some pigs. He walked for a small while, chopping down trees and looking for any sound of pigs. He was chopping for almost two hours and was about to head back to the house when he heard a faint snort. He quickly moved in the direction of the sound and found something amazing. He grinned and turned around, running back to the Yogcave, bursting inside to see Xephos waking up. He ran toward his friend.

"I found something!" He said, shaking his friend excitedly. Xephos stared at him, still partially asleep.

"What is it?" Xephos asked, yawning.

"Come and see!" The Dwarf said, taking Xephos by the hand and pulling him out the door, giggling with pure joy. Xephos wondered what could it be that would make his Dwarvin companion so joyous, maybe a large deposit of gold?

They climbed up a large hill and looked outwards and, much to his own surprise, saw a small, floating island, covered in pigs.

"Oh my god, were saved!" Honeydew said, running forward, sword in hand. "Come down here pigs! I need your meaty goodness!"

Xephos laughed and slowly climbed up a near-by hill, the peak of which was lever with the small island. He slowly made his way across and slew two pigs. Once both men had an ample supply of pork they slowly made their way back to their cave. Once inside they cooked up the meat and worked on continuing renovations.

Soon night was falling again, and the two friends were very happy with their work. They had put in a wooden floor and the front door looked lovely, with a few flowers near the entrance. As Honeydew slowly fell asleep he smiled and thought about pig island.

"Um, Xephos, there's a cow in here." Honeydew said, looking up from his breakfast. Xephos turned to where he was looking and saw the cow, frolicking around the house.

"So there is….Oh my god look at those guys outside the back door." Xephos replied, pointing to the windows, behind which were two creepers, a few spiders and a zombie. "It's like a party out there."

"Oh my GOD!" Honeydew exclaimed, chuckling. "Well that's weird. So….I think the front door is safe…what the hell?"

"What is it?" Xephos asked, coming up behind Honeydew and out the front door, were only a few feet away stood a massive, oddly shaped tree. "What the hell?"

"That is so weird!" Honeydew said, laughing in a high-pitched way.

"Yea it is…" Xephos said, looking through his pack. "Well what are we going to do today?"

"I think we need to go mining, get some recourses." Honeydew said, running back inside to finish his breakfast, the cow mooing as he passed. Xephos nodded and looked at the tree.

"That is so weird. How can a tree that size grow over night?"

"Don't know." Honeydew said, coming beside Xephos, whipping his mouth. "But I can do with some more wood."

After trimming the tree slightly and getting much more wood, Xephos and Honeydew handled the cow situation, got out their swords and picks and made their way outside, to try and find a place to start mining. Honeydew and Xephos agreed that a place to start would be the large cave, near the place where their little shack had been. They slowly made their way there and, just as they were arriving at the tunnel's mouth, the sun began to set. The day seemed to have gone by much faster than usual, and the large cave seemed daunting. The two men started to put down torches and explore, finding that the cave was actually very shallow, and had a small deposit of coal. After looking around, and finding another, smaller cave inside, they went out through a hole in the bottom of the cave, looking out over the icy sea. As they looked out into the darkness Honeydew squinted his eyes, as if straining to see something far away.

"What is it, friend?" Xephos asked, not able to see anything in the darkness.

"There's something over there." Honeydew said, pointing. "Something bright."

"I don't see anything." Xephos said, squinting as well. "Come on let's go back to- Hey where are you going!"

Honeydew had started to run off toward the direction of whatever it was he saw. Xephos sighed and followed, slipping on the ice as he tried to catch up to his friend. As he drew closer he spotted it, a large Pyramid in the darkness, barely visible, lit only by the torches surrounding it. The two friends went around to the entrance and were met with a large pool of lava, with only a few, small, stepping stones. On the other end of the pool were three chests. Xephos turned to Honeydew.

"What the fuck is this shit?!" Honeydew exclaimed, laughing. "Was this here before?"

"I don't think so." Xephos replied, looking into the Pyramid, also laughing, while whipping sweat from his brow. "Do…you think we could make it?"

"I know we can!" Honeydew said, putting his pack on the ground. "Don't want to lose those, now do we?" He said and went forward to attempt the lava jump.

"Hey!" Xephos said, grabbing the Dwarf's arm. "This is a bad idea."

"It's fine." Honeydew said, patting Xephos on the back. "Trust me."

"If you fall you die." Xephos pleaded. "Surely there isn't anything in there that we can't get ourselves."

Honeydew looked back at the pyramid and sighed. Xephos was right. It wasn't worth risking his life for. He smiled and nodded to his friend, who breathed a sigh of relief.

"Alright, let's go do some mining." Honeydew said, picking up his pack again and his pickaxe. Xephos nodded and followed Honeydew to a nearby cave, noticing some strange stones a distance off and a sort of igloo on top of a hill. Xephos shrugged and slipped into the cave.


	4. Chapter 4

**Authors note: This chapter is longer and the plot thickens! Thank you for the reviews, please keep them coming, they really do help me. **

_**Chapter 4:Dungeons and obsidian**_

The cave was dark, and damp, a thin layer of water covered the stony floor. The two friends walked cautiously, Honeydew holding up his simple stone sword as Xephos struggled to light his torch. Once he had managed to ignite it he blew on the small flame gently, causing the flame to grow and cast an eerie light on the cave. They could now see that the pool of water seemed to get deeper as it moved into the cave, and following into the pool was the only way to go, other than back. Xephos held his torch up high to aluminate more of the cave as he slowly walked deeper into the water, Honeydew following close behind. The pool continued to get deeper, the water rising up to their knees, making their progress slower. Honeydew moved his pack higher onto his shoulders, wanting to keep its contents dry as they continued.

"This is bad…" Honeydew muttered, the cold water lapping at his hips. "If the water goes too high we lose our light…and our air."

"From what I see the ceiling is staying pretty much the same away from the water." Xephos said, peering ahead with strained eyes. "It's the floor that is going down. Me may have to swim a bit but I think we will be able to breathe."

"I hope your right." Honeydew said, holding onto a wall as he stepped onto a slippery patch of moss.

They continued and it appeared that Xephos had been right, though the water continued to rise, there was still a large air pocket above them. Xephos had begun to move even more cautiously, feeling in front of him before taking a step, not wanting to get plunged into a deep hole without being prepared. After they had been traversing in chest-high water for nearly twenty minutes Xephos felt the floor in front of him and found nothing. He swallowed and turned to Honeydew.

"There's a drop." He said in a whisper, though not sure why. "I don't know how deep it is. Hold these." Xephos handed the Dwarf the torch and his pack.

"What are you doing?" Honeydew asked, shouldering the pack the best he could and holding torch up high.

"I'm checking to see how deep. Don't worry, I won't go far." He said and took a breath, slowly going under the water. It was so dark in the pool, dark to the point that it was impossible to see the bottom. Xephos swam deeper and deeper, still not finding the bottom. He was about to head back to the top when he felt something wrap around his boot. When he looked down he could barely make out the outline of what seemed to be a man and heard a very muffled, very close, moan. Xephos acted quickly and drew his sword, bringing it down on the rotten hand that had grabbed him, the water causing his sword to move slowly, but was still enough to tear the flesh. With a hard kick, Xephos managed to break the hand off the zombies arm, and quickly swam up to the surface. Once his head popped out of the water he coughed loudly and made his way back to his friend.

"Zombie…" He spluttered, trying to stand up, Honeydew pulling him up by the elbow, and drawing his sword. There was a moment of silence; save for the heavy breathing of Xephos, the cave was dark and the water motionless.

"Maybe he's gone away?" Honeydew asked, his brown eyes reflecting the torch's fire.

At that moment there was a loud splash and a zombie, with a severed hand burst from the water and began to make an awkward attempt to get to the two men. Xephos and Honeydew, in unison, brought their swords down onto the zombie's skull, splitting it. The Zombie made a gurgling sound and slowly sank back into the deeps, it's blood and brains staining the water.

After taking a moment to gather themselves they decided to continue their journey. Now swimming, it took allot of effort to keep the torch lit. Xephos had to almost crawl along the wall, one arm above his head with the torch, his paddling feet keeping him afloat. Honeydew had sheathed his sword and instead had out a shining stone dagger, which he held in his teeth, using both hands to propel him forward. As a Dwarf, he was not much of a natural swimmer, but he was faring well, and was able to keep up to Xephos. The trek in the water lasted another hour before they came to an almost flat wall. Xephos looked around and saw a small tunnel, about two feet above the water, just barely big enough to slip inside. He turned to Honeydew, who nodded, having seen it as well. The two of them swam up to the tunnel and Xephos tossed his torch up, hearing it clank on the stone. He reached up and, using the rough stone, pulled himself out of the water and up into the cave. He looked around for a moment and noticed that the cave went down. He turned to Honeydew and grabbed the luggage he was handing up before helping his friend out of the water. The boys checked their luggage, ensuring that most of the stuff inside was relatively dry and ventured down into the cavern.

"Is it just me…" Honeydew said, looking at his feet. "Or does this look like a staircase?"

"It does." Xephos said, looking ahead. "It cuts off here….it winds down it seems. "

Honeydew continued to follow Xephos, winding around and down into an open cavern, were they could see eight, shining red eyes.

"A spider." Xephos said, drawing his sword again.

"There are two of us, one of him…" Honeydew muttered. "He may have friends…OH MY GOD LOOK AT IT'S EYES!"

The Dwarf's high pitched voice seemed to set the spider out and it jumped out of the shadows, it's venomous fangs glistening in the torchlight. Xephos dropped the torch and slashed at the spider, slicing off its ugly head. They watched it twitch and die before getting a better chance to look around.

"Where the hell are we?" Xephos asked, picking his torch back up. Honeydew shrugged. Xephos began to move down the dark passage may and out of the shadows came running a green creature.

"OH GOD IT'S A CREEPER!" Xephos yelled running back. Honeydew screamed and they both ran off just as it exploded. Luckily neither of them was hurt. They looked at each other in silence before breaking out into crazy laughter.

"Oh my god…" Honeydew breathed out. "What the hell was it even doing here!?"

"I don't know." Xephos laughed. "Let's be a bit more careful."

"Yea, no Shit." Honeydew said sarcastically. Xephos shook his head and continued to traverse the cave. There turned out only to be a small waterfall and a dead end. They searched the other tunnels and found more solid walls. They were about to give up and go back to the Yogcave When Xephos spotted a small hole in the wall. It was too small to fit through but he was able to see in to a much larger cave.

Once they had made the hole bigger the two friends slipped into the cavern and followed it into the darkness. The tunnel was long and there was the distant moans of zombies, but instead of getting frightened Honeydew seemed to be getting excited and had a large grin on his face.

"What are you so happy about?" Xephos asked, looking around a corner in case a zombie was there. "Those sounds don't usually warrant a smile."

"I think were near a dungeon…" Honeydew whispered. "If we are…then there might be treasure."

"A dungeon?" Xephos asked. "That doesn't sound good…."

"There are allot of baddies in them, but I think we will do okay." Honeydew said, following the cave. Xephos hesitated before following, not wanting his friend to face it alone. Eventually they came up to some mossy stones with a large hole through the middle. Being very quiet Honeydew and Xephos snuck up onto it and peered inside. There seemed to be about eight to nine zombies inside. With their swords at the ready both men dove into the darkness, their blades shining in the torchlight as they cleared the room. Honeydew, in the dwarfish fashion, slashed and hacked at their throats and chests, while Xephos moved with precision, guiding his blade straight through the monsters skulls.

Once the dark room was cleared of monsters, both men were breathing hard, their clothing splattered with dark blood. Honeydew made a disgusted sound and pulled a chunk of rotten flesh out of his ginger beard.

"Well…that was lovely." Xephos said, whipping his sword off with a rag. "You think there will be any treasure worth keeping?"

"Well, it may not be riches." Honeydew said, slightly disappointed as he rummaged through one of the two chests. "But it's things we can use. Some raw iron…a bucket, looks like some wheat, maybe we can make some bread." He listed off the items as he slipped them into his pack. "What's in that one?"

Xephos moved over to the other chest and opened it. Some of the items were familiar to him, such as a bucket, some more wheat, a bit more iron. But then there were two things he did not recognize. They were kept in small pouches of different colored leather. The first one was somewhat large and a dusty grey color. He opened it and looked at the silver dust. He took a tiny bit in-between his thumb and index finger bringing it to his nose and taking a small sniff. He shuddered and looked over at Honeydew, who was absentmindedly fingering his flint and steel, which he had kept with him from his home with the Dwarfs. Apparently the Dwarf had been exiled from Khaz Modan because he had set fire to the dining hall, on purpose, because he thought it was too cold. Knowing his friend had pyromaniac tendencies; Xephos put the large bag of sulfur into his bag without saying a word. He moved on to examine the other bag, which was a reddish leather and, despite the obvious damage, was quite beautiful. He opened it and saw a blood-red dust. Not knowing what it could be he showed it to Honeydew.

"That's Redstone, friend." Honeydew said, looking at the dust. "It has magical properties and can make things like pistons work, or set off TNT when linking it to a lever or button or something."

"Oh…" Xephos said, tying the pouch closed and putting into his bag. "So it acts like electricity, or a fuse."

"What's electricity?" Honeydew asked, very confused. Xephos laughed.

"It's a kind of energy we use to power things on my planet." Xephos explained. "Lighting, is electricity."

"Wow, you guys use lightning to power things?" Honeydew asked, bewildered. Xephos laughed and shook his head.

"Not exactly, it's a bit more complicated than that." Xephos said as he made his way out of the dungeon. At that moment, he heard the hiss of a fuse and tried to jump away. He was too late. The creeper had slipped out from behind a wall and had exploded, causing a large hole to open up in the floor. Xephos let out a loud scream, Honeydew reached out, but his hand grasped air as the form of Xephos plummeted into darkness. Honeydew fell to his knees, looking into the pit. There was no light, and there was no way in telling how deep it was. He reached for the torch Xephos dropped and held it down into the hole.

"Xephos!" He called, his ears straining to hear a voice.

"I'm okay!" Came the reply and Honeydew breathed a sigh of relief. "There's water down here, Honeydew! And I think I can see a light or something!"

"Well you sure are a lucky bugger!" Honeydew called back, wanting to laugh. "Try and get out of the way! I'm coming down!"

"You sure?" Xephos called out of the blackness. "How will we get out?"

"We will dig our way out!" Honeydew announced and snuffed the torch, putting it into his pack before jumping into the hole. There was a loud splash when he landed in the pool and he quickly swam up to the surface. He looked around in the darkness, trying to find his way out, when he felt a warm, living hand on his elbow. He went toward the hand and pulled himself up onto a small outcropping of rock. He sighed as Xephos lit one of his torches and held it up high.

"How are those staying dry enough to light when we are soaked to the bone?" Honeydew asked, wringing water out of his ginger beard. Xephos laughed loudly and helped his friend to his feet.

"This one had fallen out of my pack and onto this outcropping." Xephos explained. "It's amazing I found it at all."

Honeydew shook his head and chuckled. They were having amazing luck in this little trek, neither of them seriously injured, even if they were a little shaken. They stayed on the outcropping for a while, regaining their energy and eating some pork. Once they felt relatively better they made their way along the wall toward a faint light. They peered down into a small crevice, at one end of which was a pool of hot lava that the water seemed to intercept. They carefully made their way down and stood beside the lava, the steam coming up and making them sweat. Xephos was suddenly aware that were the lava and water wet there was a smooth, shining black stone with a slightly purple hue. He pointed it out to Honeydew who smiled, though seemed slightly uneasy.

"That's Obsidian, mate." He said, looking at the stone. "You need a diamond pick axe to mine it, the stuff is so hard." He got up and took out his iron pick, which Xephos was downright shocked to see.

"Where did you get that?" He asked in awe.

"This?" Honeydew asked, holding his pic. "I made it with the iron we found in the dungeon."

"How?" Xephos asked. "We got it not even twenty minutes ago!"

"I'm a Dwarf!" Honeydew laughed. "We are experts when it comes to quickly making things!"

Xephos shook his head and sighed, looking at the walls around the pool of lava and noticing a bluish ore that looked oddly similar to…

"Diamond!" Xephos exclaimed in disbelief.

Honeydew's mouth gaped. How could their luck be THAT good? Normally one would have to dig for days before finding any of the precious material. If he hadn't known any better he would say that someone was messing with them, but he had no idea how that could be. He laughed and carefully skirted his way around the lava, Xephos making a barrier of dirt to keep his friend safe from falling in. Honeydew mined the diamonds and made his way back, sitting them on a stone and pulling supplies out of his bag.

Xephos watched in awe as his friend worked at making, with his primitive tools, the most beautiful pick he had ever seen. It let off a bluish light when held up to the lava's glow. Honeydew let a wide, proud grin fall across his face before standing and looking at the obsidian.

"Let's get this cleared up!" He said. "We need to dam the water and block off the lava, then I will get to work on mining this stuff."

Xephos let a grin fall across his own face as they went to work. The water was easy enough to clear out of the way, for they only needed to block it up with some stones and bucket out the rest with the supplies they had found in the dungeon. The lava took allot longer to block away, because they had to shovel dirt and gravel into it, making a seal once they had patted down the final layer of gravel, which finished the sort of wall. Once that was done Honeydew started to dig around the black stone, checking underneath it in case there was more lava beneath it, it would be pointless to put in the time and effort just to have it fall in and melt away. Once he was satisfied he went to work, swinging his pick while humming a slightly catchy tune, the black stone slowly giving way. Xephos, without a pic of diamond, had nothing more to do than stand guard. He was tired and was sure that they had been in the caves much longer than they should have. They were starting to run low on food, and his stone sword was beginning to crack. He looked back at Honeydew, who was sweating profusely as he mined, having finally got to through his third chunk of obsidian.

"So what do you do with obsidian?" Xephos asked, keeping an eye on a creeper that was stuck in the water, flowing away from them. "Can you make, like, armor with it?"

"No….it's not very pliable." Honeydew explained, whipping sweat from his brow. "The only thing you can use it for, other than building something, is making a Nether Portal. "

"A what?" Xephos asked, ignoring the creeper and moving closer to his friend, using a cloth to help wipe sweat up with, like a nurse to a doctor.

"A Nether Portal." Honeydew repeated, nodding in thanks. "We can go to the Nether, where there are many rare ores and materials. We go there and we can begin to live easy."

Xephos liked the idea of rare materials that might help their home, but the idea of going to a place called the Nether, through a portal, did not sound all too encouraging. He shrugged however, knowing that Honeydew knew more about the workings in this world than he himself did.

Another two hours passed before Honeydew finally collected the final chunk of the stone. Once they had made sure everything was ready Xephos took the iron pick and they started to dig their way up and out of the tunnels and toward sunlight and fresh air.

As they finally pulled themselves out of the ground, no more than a hundred Meters from the pyramid Honeydew took in a deep breath of the cold air. Xephos looked around nervously. He had not shared it with Honeydew, but ever since they had first seen the black stone next to the red hot lava he had gained a sense of foreboding, as if telling him that if they continued in making this portal, something terrible would happen. He shook his head and followed Honeydew towards the large cave mouth they had been standing in when the dwarf first noticed the pyramid. He looked over to his left and saw a creeper, hiding in the shade of a large tree, unwilling to step into the sun. Xephos stopped on the ice, looking at its face, frozen forever in a grotesque scream, and remembered the dream he experienced their first night in the Yogcave. The same face, frozen in a silent scream of terror, only with skin the color of snow, and eyes the same luminescent red as lava.


	5. Chapter 5

**Authors note: Hey, I know it has been a while since I have updated this retelling of Shadow of Israphel, but I have had writers block. At the moment I am writing and posting whenever I can and now that I can write again I may be able to post a few chapters in a short period of time. Please send me reviews so that I will know people still read so that I will be more likely to keep writing. Thank you.**

**Chapter 5: Dark Constructions**

The two friends made their way into the cave Honeydew had dubbed "The cave of Terror", even though there was absolutely nothing threatening about it. Honeydew began to level out the ground inside it, using some lose stones, as Xephos cleared out a small side cave, which they could use as a sort of outpost. He made some small notches in the walls which he slid two lit torches into, which allowed them to keep the small cave lit. He shuddered slightly, his still damp hair seeming to freeze in the cold wind. Xephos went outside and saw that Honeydew had finished leveling out the floor and was beginning to build up, making a plinth on which to make the obsidian frame. Xephos watched for a moment before taking a few larger chunks of stone and heading to the front of the cave and starting to make a rough staircase, leading down to the sandy beach.

"Hey, Xephos?" Honeydew asked as he slid a chunk of cobble into place.

"Yea?" Xephos asked, looking up.

"Can you tell me some more about were you came from?" The Dwarf asked, wiping sweat off his brow. "I've been curious for a while but I didn't want to ask too many questions. It's obvious you're not from here, since you don't even know what red-stone is, but you also mentioned that you were from another planet? And what's this shuttle thing you said that had crashed?"

Xephos stared at his friend for a moment. He had been wondering why Honeydew hadn't asked that many questions about his sudden appearance not to mention his naivety of most the things around here.

"I'm from a planet called Earth." Xephos explained as he went back to work on the stairs. "It's somewhat similar to this one, what did you call it?"

"Minecraftia." Honeydew said with a slight chuckle.

"Right...well...there are differences, such as he don't often have such dramatic changes in biomes, like it would be very strange to see this much snow near the beach, or have huge grassy planes right next to the snow. Also we don't have Creepers, Zombies, or skeletons that come out in the night."

"Wow, really?" Honeydew asked in awe. "No monsters at night? That must be nice."

"It is." Xephos chuckled. "Also we don't have magic like this place has, we have to make our own power, such as electricity that I already told you about."

"Huh..."Honeydew said, thinking for a moment. "And this shuttle thing?"

"It's like a boat that is stored on a large ship, only instead of going over water it goes through space. "

"Wow..." Honeydew said with a grin. "So you were part of a larger ship? How many people were there on it? Did they all dress like you do? Why haven't they come to get you?"

Xephos held up his hand, the sting of questions starting to get jumbled. He sat down on a chunk of stair, and Honeydew joined him, looking like a little kid waiting for a story.

"The ship I was on was called the U.S.S. Enterprise." He explained. "It was home to over one thousand crew members." Honeydew whistled at the number. "I was sent on a shuttle to study your planet, but something, I'm still not sure what exactly, hit my shuttle, which caused me to crash into the ocean. I haven't been able to contact my ship, which means they have not been able to contact me. I suspect they think me dead."

Honeydew sighed and looked up at the sky, as if expecting to see the ship.

"So your stuck, basically, is that it?" He asked quietly.

"Yea pretty much." Xephos replied with a sigh.

"Well...I'm sorry your stuck, I really am, but I have to say I'm almost happy." Honeydew said with a bit of an akward smile. "I've been on my own for months now and it's nice having a friend around."

Xephos smiled an patted the Dwarfs thick, meaty shoulder.

"I was lucky you found me." He said almost in a whisper. "If you hadn't I would have been zombie food. Even though I am stuck here, I don't think I will mind too much."

Honeydew grinned back and nodded, standing up and looking back up at the plinth.

"We had best get this finished up. Do you have any more stone?" The dwarf asked. Xephos looked around him, there was no were near enough.

"I think there might be some back in the Yogcave." Xephos said, standing up and dusting off his rump. "I'll go and check. Feel free to use what's here."

Honeydew nodded and went back to work as Xephos walked up the small hill toward the Yogcave. Xephos hummed a small tune to himself as their house came into view. He was about ten meters away from it when he stopped, noticing the door was open. He frowned and moved a little closer, when a movement inside the house caught his attention. Inside their home, looking out one of the windows, was a foristy green creeper. Xephos stopped for a moment and looked at it in return. The two just stared at each other for a moment, the creeper's face unchanging, frozen in a silent scream, Xephos frozen in shock and fear. When Xephos took a small step backward the Creeper moved to the side and out the open door, heading straight toward Xephos. Xephos ran, drawing his sword. He made his way back over the mountain to see Honeydew moving toward him.

"You left the door open!" Xephos said. "There was a Creeper inside and now it is chasing me!"

Honeydew let out a slightly nervous laugh, drawing his own sword.

"Kill it!" The Dwarf said, backing away as the Creeper came over the ridge.

"Help me." Xephos said, turning to face the monster, but still backing away.

The Creeper continued to follow Xephos, and Honeydew attempted to jab at it from behind. Xephos made a small slash at it, but it jumped back just out of reach of the sword. Xephos fell down a small slump of sand and stumbled, allowing the creeper to get closer and start to hiss and swell. Xephos slashed at the Creeper, hitting it in the side, subduing the explosion for a moment and allowing himself to get out of the small pit. The Creeper followed behind and then, very suddenly swelled and exploded. Xephos yelped and jumped back, landing on his back side, staring at the hole in the icy lake the explosion made. Honeydew was laughing.

"That was terrible!" He chortled. "That was just bad."

"I hate those things." Xephose chuckled slightly and stood up with some help from Honeydew.

"Don't we all?" The Dwarf said and sighed.

"Well lets finish up and get home before any more of those things show up." Xephos said looking back up at the cave. The plinth seemed to be finished, and the stairs, while rather thin, were usable.

Honeydew nodded and they both made their way up to the plinth and Xephos leaned against the wall, wiping Creeper guts off his face with a lose rag as Honeydew got out his stash of obsidian and began to put them together on top of the plinth. Xephos noticed how, as the chunks of stone were put together, they seemed to meld into a solid thing, linking them. He watched in wonder as Honeydew continued to stack them, higher and higher, making a tall, rectangular frame, casing an eiry shadow to fall into the cave as the moon began to rise. The two of them hadn't even noticed the sun setting, but now they didn't care. Honeydew secured a few torches to the side of the portal before climbing up to a slightly higher bit of ground and looked at the dark frame. He looked back down at Xephos and gave a shaky smile.

"Do you have a flint and steel?" Honeydew asked Xephos, hopping down from the wall of the cave. Xephos shook his head. "Then use mine. Be careful it's been in the family for centuries." He handed Xephos the flint and steel, which were engraved with Dwarven runes. The steel had a faintly blue glow in the moonlight and was extremely light in his hands. Xephose nodded and looked at the frame.

"Light the inside on fire." Honeydew said, stepping back a little bit. Xephos nodded and moved forward, striking the steel against the flint, causing a wave of sparks to fly into the frame. The stone caught fire and for a few seconds it burned before the flames steadily grew to fill the whole frame, emitting a now purple light. Xephos stepped back and looked up at the purple flames of the portal, which were now emitting a sound very much like a heart beat.

"That...is terrifying." Xephos said, trembling slightly. Something felt very wrong.

"Yea it is." Honeydew said, walking around the portal and to the small cave Xephos had carved out. "Come on, let's store some of out stuff in this cave."

Xephos followed Honeydew into the small cave and they began to unload their things into a small hole in the wall of the cave, which acted like a sort of chest. They took their bags, which now only had a few tools in them, and put them on their backs, making sure their swords and daggers were fastened securely to their belts. They returned to the portal, the sounds of Zombies accompanying the moans and pulse of the portal. They looked at each other for a second before stepping up to the plinth. Honeydew went first, stepping into the purple flames, which licked and caressed him without causing harm. Xephos followed, standing beside his friend as they waited to be taken to the place called the Nether.

They stood there for a minute, then two, then three, but nothing was happening. Xephos looked around, the fire around him clouding his vision slightly, but was not even warm enough to keep the cold air from penetrating his shirt.

"Nothing's happening Honeydew." The spaceman stated, stepping out of the frame. He looked back up at it as his friend did the same. "Is it broken? Did you make it right?"

"Um..." Honeydew thought hard and examined the portal. The dimentions were right and the purple fire was burning at the right color, but they hadn't been able to go through. "I'm not sure...it's made right...but we can't go through..."

"Well lets head back home." Xephos said, getting a few things from the chest to take back home. "It's dark, cold, and I am exhausted."

Honeydew nodded and took a few things as well before they headed back to their home,and despite their weariness neither slept, due to a heavy foreboding in their hearts.


End file.
